Tom Thibodeau: Raptor players would be wise to listen to a winner

Hours after the humiliation of a Game 1 obliteration, Thibodeau gathered these Bulls on Sunday morning for one of his blistering sermons from the pulpit. He challenged the Bulls with the fiercest of ferocity, and the crooked smile washing over his face late Monday night reflected the resounding response of his locker room.

As circumstances go, the Bulls' 90-82 victory over the Nets was one of Thibs' masterpieces, a Mona Lisa born of a crushing Game 1 loss, a beaten and broken-down roster getting buried in an avalanche of criticism and overnight obits. Some were so sure that Thibodeau had pushed these Bulls too hard, too far and they had nothing left for the playoffs.

For now, the MVP of these Bulls remains the rumpled, defensive visionary on the bench.

"Most guys, from Patrick Ewing to Yao [Ming] to [Kevin] Garnett, they want to be coached," Thibodeau told Yahoo! Sports. "They want to be pushed. In all my years in this, one thing has never changed: You win with serious, tough-minded players. That never changes.

"That's the challenge now. Things are changing in the game. ÖThings are different. When you're putting a team together, I think of what [Bill] Belichick said: 'You're not collecting talent, you're building a team.' "

As it turns out, Thibodeau is the rarest commodity in the NBA: an indisputable difference-maker on the bench. This is a players' league, but Thibodeau is easily the most underpaid commodity in the NBA. At $4 million per year, the big-market Bulls never need to go deep into luxury tax, because Thibodeau will find a way to win with almost whatever they give him.

Nice article. I'd say it's a good read for the players as well as the coach. I'm still on board the Casey wagon, but I still would like to see him be tougher on the players and push them harder. Might have done wonders for Bargnani if coaches were tougher on him, or were allowed to be tougher on him like coach Mitchel was.

Nice article. I'd say it's a good read for the players as well as the coach. I'm still on board the Casey wagon, but I still would like to see him be tougher on the players and push them harder. Might have done wonders for Bargnani if coaches were tougher on him, or were allowed to be tougher on him like coach Mitchel was.

Mitchell was eventually fired because of the no-gloves treatment.

I am all for accountability and pushing players, but it has to be consistent. I lost a lot of respect for Casey this year with how he handled some players versus others. Now if the results backed up his decisions, that would be different, but they did not.

And again, not because I think he was a great coach, but because he understood the principles of coaching personalities at least, I miss Smitch. He really understood the idea that pushing someone is the only way to get them to be/play their best. Does that mean it's a simple equation? No, because it's hard to have the right balance of pushing and nurturing. This is what usually separates great coaches, in that they know how to be demanding and disciplinary while still maintaining an environment of positivity and caring for their players. Casey seems pretty good with that aspect, actually.

On the Raps? Well, I definitely think it's no problem with JV and Amir. I also think there's no such roster where every guy is like that 1-15. Lowry's problem is clearly he's too tough for his own good, hence the coachability issues (he wants to be pushed to succeed, but he always thinks he knows better or something). I think Demar is pretty tough, but he doesn't really project it. Dude invites constant coaching and criticism, so he can't be soft-minded....I just don't think he has that elite edge where it rubs off on others. JV, Amir and Lowry all do. I actually think Acy, Fields and AA do as well, but as role players it has less impact on the team makeup. I don't know about Gay. I wouldn't call him soft, and he can play with toughness, but he can also be passive...I can't tell with him yet. He doesn't strike me as being up there with JV, Amir and Lowry.

Actually, one reason I was so big on pairing JV and Lowry is I thought their personalities would mesh well. If Lowry is over the hump with his coaching issues, I think they should really be a strong leadership pairing as tough players at the first and last line of defense.

Rudy Gay and Lowry are pretty tough minded guys with Acy and Telfair, DeMar had his moments where he surprised me with his tancity this season the starting line up that ended the season are pretty HARD.

Rudy Gay and Lowry are pretty tough minded guys with Acy and Telfair, DeMar had his moments where he surprised me with his tancity this season the starting line up that ended the season are pretty HARD.

Bargnani and Calderon had to go I've been saying this for years.

Calderon was tough-minded....don't confuse physicality for mental toughness. Just ask Smitch, you could yell and ride Jose all day and night, and he'll still be saying "ok, coach" and trying his hardest. Can physicality be linked to toughness? Yes, but just because a player doesn't hit first, doesn't mean he isn't tough. Jose wasn't Bargnani soft. IF guys tried to play him physical or dirty he'd respond.

I think Thibs is being a little humble in that interview. I think that the tone he sets with his personality and his (legendary) work ethic goes a long way towards getting his players to fall in line. I mean, he's getting a good contribution from Nate freaking Robinson; dude is in the HOF of NBA clowns.

I agree, but I think it needs to be a player and not a coach that challenges him. Just look at what happened with Kevin McHale in Houston. You're getting a coach as well as a guy who played the game challenging you and Lowry chose to be a suck.

I think he's a really talented cat, but Lowry doesn't seem like the coachable type to me.

When we're talking good coaches please do not bring up Sam Mitchell. He is a terrible coach and the proof is in the pudding, since he was fired in 2009 he hasn't even been rumored to be in the running for any other head coaching positions. He was also quickly replaced after a year as the Nets assistant coach.
A terrible coach who yells at the players is still a terrible coach. He shouldn't even been mentioned in same sentence as Thibs.

When we're talking good coaches please do not bring up Sam Mitchell. He is a terrible coach and the proof is in the pudding, since he was fired in 2009 he hasn't even been rumored to be in the running for any other head coaching positions. He was also quickly replaced after a year as the Nets assistant coach.
A terrible coach who yells at the players is still a terrible coach. He shouldn't even been mentioned in same sentence as Thibs.

I'm not saying he's a great coach, but I brought him up because he wasn't afraid to lay into a player which was performing poorly which is what I think Casey doesn't do (and Triano before him). You can't argue that he's the only Raptors coach to have won COY and led the team to I beleive it's second best record. Does that make him a great coach? No. But does it prove he got results by his method of coaching? Yes.

This is why the video/interview bombs and the player interviews during a 34-48 season disturb me. I do question the mental toughness of just about every Raptor minus JV and possibly Amir.

I think it's a thin line Matt. You don't want a lottery team to be happy or satisfied with missing the playoffs, so I can see where the video bombs and constant clowning around can be interpreted the wrong way. But you don't want them to be miserable and at each other's throats the entire team either... That's when you get a Washington Wizards situation like in recent years.

I think it's a thin line Matt. You don't want a lottery team to be happy or satisfied with missing the playoffs, so I can see where the video bombs and constant clowning around can be interpreted the wrong way. But you don't want them to be miserable and at each other's throats the entire team either... That's when you get a Washington Wizards situation like in recent years.